The Hunter

Unusual Allies

A violent tremor went through Collin's body and forced him awake. His eyelids were heavy from sleep and all he wanted to do was fall back into a blissful slumber -- if only he could stop shivering. He couldn't feel the now familiar warmth of Mira at his back. The cold seemed to seep into his bone marrow, but despite the chill, sweat dripped down his forehead.

"Shit," a heavily-accented and very male voice said.

After sniffing the air, Collin started to panic. Had he come for revenge? It'd been less than a week since the death of that other shifter. While mountain lion shifters weren't known for their loyalty to each other, they'd definitely pick each other over a wolf and a hunter. The more alarming part was the lack of Mira's scent. Sure, traces lingered; however, she hadn't been there for a few hours. And all he got from his weird new ability was that she was a long distance off. She wouldn't just up and leave him, would she?

Collin tried to push himself up and managed to open his eyes. The starlight cast a silvery light over the small clearing. The golden-orange light from the embers in the center contrasted drastically with it. The lion shifter was carefully adding wood to the fire-almost as if he didn't exactly know what he was doing. In fact, he probably didn't. The honey colored eyes of the shifter landed on Collin.

"Merde!" The shifter sauntered over and Collin reached his hand behind him into his pack. He needed something-anything-to defend himself. "Lie back down. If you hurt yourself more, she'll have my head."

"Where's Mira?" Collin ignored him and continued to feel in the bag for his knife or one of the javelins. "What did you do to her?"

The shifter walked over and crouched down in front of Collin. "I did nothing to her, but she should be back soon. Now, I'd rather not force you to lie down. That'd just be awkward, no?"

At his words, Collin could feel his muscles relax. She hadn't left him. The shifter reached forward, but Collin lay back before his hand made contact. When he had fully reclined, the tremors started again. "Where'd she go?"

The shifter stood and started adding wood to the fire again. "To get her supplies from her hoard. It was fortunate I happened by when I did. You're in no condition to be going long distances."

"I have trouble believing Mira would trust you to watch me." At least talking kept him distracted from the pain in his shoulder. "We haven't exactly had good encounters with lion shifters on this adventure."

"Ah, yes." The shifter chuckled and tossed another branch that seemed green onto the fire. "Word has gotten around that wolves killed one of us. None of them realizes it was really a lone she-wolf. As far as Mira goes, she didn't want to leave you, but I convinced her it was for the best."

The shifter wandered off while Collin's sleep-addled brain processed everything. After they left the dead bodies, they had found a small stream and headed east, farther into the woods. Blood had oozed down his forearm and Mira had grown increasingly worried until she insisted they stop for the night. It was just past dusk and they hadn't gone nearly far enough in Collin's opinion.

She'd gotten him settled into his sleeping bag and brought him food and cared for him. Her frustration at not knowing how to care for him had only grown until she finally crawled into the sleeping bag with him. At that point, he managed to fall into a deep slumber.

When the lion shifter reappeared, he had an arm full of branches that he placed next to the fire. "I'm Claude, by the way."

"Why would Mira trust you?" Something about the situation didn't feel right to Collin. Whether the sleepiness, the cold or the blood loss was messing with his brain or not had yet to be determined.

"You'll find that there is very little that I wouldn't do for Mira." Jealousy simmered in Collin's gut as he narrowed his eyes at Claude. "Before you go getting all jealous on me, she helped me when I couldn't even help myself. Which means she has my loyalty, even if it requires me caring for a hunter."

"What did she do?" Collin hadn't missed the disgust in Claude's voice when he said the word hunter, but all Collin could feel was relief that Mira and Claude weren't somehow romantically involved.

"It's a long story. You are still shivering." Claude fidgeted on his feet and his jaw tensed, while looking at the ground. "I'm not sure what else to do to warm you up other than cuddle with you, which would bring us back to awkward."

"Yeah..." Collin had dragged out the word and his face twisted into a grimace. "Pretty sure I'd rather freeze to death. No offense."

"None taken." Claude smiled and glanced back at the fire, which had started to grow a bit. The green wood probably hindered it from happening any faster. "How about this? I tell you my story, and if you still look like you are on death's door at that point, I'll shift and stay outside of the sleeping bag to warm you. I don't fancy Mira killing me if I actually let you die."

"Agreed." Collin wriggled around on his back until he had a better view of Claude. "Now, how did Mira gain your loyalty?"

"About seven years back, I decided I wanted to settle down." When Collin snorted in surprise, Claude glared at him. "I know: lion shifters aren't meant to settle down, which is why I often claim I should have been a wolf instead of a lion. That is neither here nor there.

"I had decided a human would be my best bet. No wolf in their right mind would marry a lion and no lioness would want to create a home with me. I met a wonderful woman named Lizzie and after a year we got married. She was amazing and even accepted the fact I could turn into a lion. The call of nature was strong for me so we lived on the outskirts of town. It let me go on weekend trips in the woods. Her only rules were: don't mess with other women and don't get killed."

A flitting smile appeared on Claude's face, but it didn't hide the sadness in his eyes. "After a year, we had our first child. A beautiful baby boy. And I was so proud when he shifted for the first time. Lizzie would make jokes about how he'd shift and tear up the drapes. It was more than I had ever dreamed for. Another year and a half passed and we had twin boys. We followed them with a baby boy two years later."

"Where are they now?" Collin wasn't sure he wanted the answer, but it seemed polite to ask.

"Dead." Claude threw a stick into the fire before plopping down onto the ground by it.